London: who's moving in, who's moving out?

London: who's moving out

More than 310,000 Londoners moved away from the capital between 2011 and 2015, according to the ONS. They put it down to “the cost of property in London” which is driving people in their thirties and forties to head to the cheaper commuter belt in search of “affordable” homes.

Analysis by the group Generation Rent showed that 65,890 people in their 30s moved from London to another part of the UK in 2014-15, a net loss of 30,410 in that age group. This was 48% higher than in 2011-12, when 20,590 more 30 to 39-year-olds moved out than moved in.

Generation Rent said the exodus had taken place during a period in which house prices in London rose by 37%, compared with 16% in the UK as a whole, and rents increased by 10%, compared with 4% outside London.

Research by Lloyds bank found that moving to somewhere an hour’s commute from London could mean paying hundreds of thousands of pounds less for a family home. While the average price of a home in London transport zones one and two was £741,919, in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, the average was £183,345, while in Peterborough, it was £189,319.

London: who's moving in

Despite the massive outflows, the capital was still the fastest growing city in the UK, with the population swelling by 469,000 - or 5.7% - over the last five years.

An influx of twenty-somethings from the rest of the UK along with the continued appeal of the capital as a destination for people around the world ensured London remained a popular choice for relocators. London was the only city in the UK to record a “high net internal inflow of people aged 22 to 29, reflecting its attraction for graduates in particular.”

The ONS estimated the population of greater London was 8.6m in 2015, and is projected to rise to 9.8m over the next 10 years.

The capital also experienced the highest number of international arrivals. Net migration from outside the UK - the number of international arrivals minus departures - was running at an average of 95,000 a year between 2011 and 2015.